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I can see your point, having put it in a Ww2 context.
My understanding or possibly misunderstanding of the author’s intended joke, was that humanity has cocked up the fight against Covid so badly that a country (sub out Italy if you want) has decided Covid is the winning horse and has decided to throw its hat in with it, which is of course impossible because Covid isn’t capable of diplomatic relations because it’s a virus, and is additionally non-sensical because the virus ‘preys’ on humans no matter if they ‘support’ it or not. I assumed it was parody, not jingoistic mockery, and I found that pretty funny.
It isn't a joke with multiple levels. The face value is "Nar, nar! Cowardly forrins, we won!" which is the only value.